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Public International Law

Semester 4 · 22 topics in 5 units

Past question papers for Public International Law

Unit I 4 topics

  1. International law: nature, definition, origin and basisWhat international law is, whether it is really law (Austin and his critics), how it grew from Grotius and Westphalia to the UN Charter, the theories of its binding force including auto-limitation, and how it differs from private international law.8 min
  2. Sources of international lawArticle 38(1) of the ICJ Statute: treaties, custom with its two elements (North Sea Continental Shelf, Lotus, Asylum, Nicaragua), general principles, judicial decisions and writers, then jus cogens and the place of General Assembly resolutions.7 min
  3. Relationship between international law and municipal lawMonism, dualism and the coordination theory; transformation and incorporation in English and American practice; and the Indian position under Articles 51(c), 73 and 253 as read in Maganbhai, Jolly George Varghese, Gramophone Co. and Vishaka.7 min
  4. Subjects of international law: States, organisations and individualsWhat it means to be a subject of international law, the realist, fictional and functional theories, States as the primary subjects, international organisations after the Reparation opinion, and the place of individuals from piracy and Nuremberg to human rights and Chandrima Das.6 min

Unit II 3 topics

  1. States in general: definition, kinds, rights and the Monroe DoctrineThe Montevideo criteria of statehood, the kinds of States (sovereign, federal, confederate, vassal, protectorate, neutralised, mandated and trust territories), the fundamental rights and duties of States, intervention, and the Monroe, Drago and Calvo doctrines.6 min
  2. Recognition of States and governmentsConstitutive and declaratory theories, recognition of States and of governments, de facto and de jure recognition with Luther v. Sagor and the Tinoco arbitration, modes, conditional recognition and withdrawal, the legal effects of recognition and non-recognition, and its retrospective effect.8 min
  3. State territorial sovereignty: acquisition, restrictions and lossThe modes of acquiring territory (occupation, prescription, accretion, cession, subjugation) with Island of Palmas, Eastern Greenland and Temple of Preah Vihear, the restrictions on territorial sovereignty, loss of territory, cession in Indian law (Berubari, Maganbhai, Sukumar Sengupta), and the island problem worked out.8 min

Unit III 5 topics

  1. State jurisdiction: principles and exemptionsTerritorial, nationality, protective, passive personality and universality principles, the Lotus case, exemptions from territorial jurisdiction (foreign States, heads of State, diplomats, warships, foreign forces, international organisations) with Kashani and Ethiopian Airlines, and the Cutting case problem.9 min
  2. Law of the sea: baselines, territorial sea, contiguous zone and EEZThe development of the law of the sea to UNCLOS 1982, baselines and the Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries case, internal waters, the 12-mile territorial sea and innocent passage with Corfu Channel, straits and archipelagic waters, the 24-mile contiguous zone, and the 200-mile exclusive economic zone, with India's Maritime Zones Act, 1976.8 min
  3. Continental shelf, high seas and the deep seabedThe Truman Proclamation and the continental shelf under Articles 76 to 83 of UNCLOS with the North Sea Continental Shelf cases, the freedoms of the high seas under Article 87, flag State jurisdiction, piracy, the right of visit and hot pursuit, and the Area as common heritage of mankind.7 min
  4. State responsibilityThe 2001 ILC Articles: elements of an internationally wrongful act, attribution (organs, ultra vires acts, private persons, mobs and insurgents), circumstances precluding wrongfulness, reparation (Chorzow Factory), injury to aliens and exhaustion of local remedies, with the transboundary gas and mob-violence problems worked out.9 min
  5. State succession: theories, kinds and consequencesThe universal succession and clean-slate theories, universal and partial succession, the Vienna Conventions of 1978 and 1983, succession to treaties, public debts (including odious debts), State property, contracts and concessions, nationality and UN membership, with India's practice after 1947 and Dalmia Dadri.7 min

Unit IV 5 topics

  1. Nationality: acquisition, loss, statelessness and the Nottebohm caseNationality as the link between the individual and international law, modes of acquisition (birth by jus soli and jus sanguinis, naturalisation, registration, incorporation of territory) and loss, double nationality and statelessness, the Nottebohm genuine-link rule, and the scheme of the Citizenship Act, 1955.6 min
  2. ExtraditionMeaning and basis of extradition, its conditions (treaty, extradition crime, double criminality, speciality, prima facie case, nationality), non-extraditable crimes and the political offence exception from Castioni to the attentat clause, the Savarkar case, and the Extradition Act, 1962 with Hans Muller, Daya Singh Lahoria and Abu Salem.8 min
  3. Asylum: territorial and extra-territorial, and the protection of refugeesMeaning of asylum, territorial asylum and its relation to extradition, extra-territorial (diplomatic) asylum in legations, warships and consulates with the Asylum and Haya de la Torre cases, the Refugee Convention and non-refoulement, and India's position from NHRC v. Arunachal Pradesh to Mohammad Salimullah.7 min
  4. Diplomatic envoys and consuls: classes, functions, privileges and immunitiesThe Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961: classes and functions of envoys, persona non grata, the theories of immunity, inviolability of premises, person and bag, immunity from jurisdiction and its exceptions, family members and waiver; consuls under the 1963 Convention with Jadhav; and the diplomat's son problem.8 min
  5. Law of treaties: conclusion, reservations, validity and terminationThe Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 1969: definition, the stages of conclusion (negotiation, adoption, authentication, signature, ratification, accession, entry into force, registration), reservations and the Genocide opinion, pacta sunt servanda, interpretation, invalidity and jus cogens, termination including material breach and rebus sic stantibus, and India's treaty practice.8 min

Unit V 5 topics

  1. The United Nations: origin, purposes, principles and membershipFrom the League of Nations to the San Francisco Conference, the purposes in Article 1 and the seven principles in Article 2 of the Charter (sovereign equality, good faith, peaceful settlement, the prohibition of force, domestic jurisdiction), membership, admission, suspension and expulsion, and the six principal organs.7 min
  2. The General Assembly and the Security CouncilComposition, powers, functions and voting of the General Assembly (Articles 9 to 22) and the Security Council (Articles 23 to 32), the veto and the abstention practice, Chapter VI and Chapter VII powers, the Uniting for Peace Resolution, the veto initiative of 2022, and the reform debate.8 min
  3. The International Court of Justice, ECOSOC, the Trusteeship Council and the SecretariatComposition, election and jurisdiction of the ICJ (contentious jurisdiction by special agreement, compromissory clause, optional clause and forum prorogatum; advisory jurisdiction; provisional measures and enforcement), and the composition and functions of ECOSOC, the Trusteeship Council and the Secretariat.8 min
  4. World Trade Organization: main featuresFrom GATT 1947 to the Marrakesh Agreement, objectives and functions of the WTO, its structure (Ministerial Conference, General Council, DSB, TPRB, councils, Secretariat), decision-making, the basic principles (MFN, national treatment, tariff binding, exceptions, special and differential treatment), the covered agreements, dispute settlement and the Appellate Body impasse, and India.6 min
  5. International Labour Organisation: objectives, composition and functionsOrigin of the ILO in Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles, its objectives in the Preamble and the Declaration of Philadelphia, tripartite composition (International Labour Conference, Governing Body, International Labour Office), conventions and recommendations under Article 19, supervision and complaints, the fundamental conventions, and India's relationship with the ILO.7 min